Retrogade Mission

Chapter Five: The Serial Thieves

Zuo Luo thought for a moment and nodded: "Continue."

Su Cheng explained, "The leader of the Ghost Gang is translated as Ghost Leader, but I prefer to call him Ghost Chief, the leader of ghosts. You should be able to tell that I call them the Ghost Gang, which has a derogatory connotation. The reason is that I clashed with them once. As for why we clashed, don't ask. In the end, I suffered a great loss. But that's how the rules are; if you lose, you have to accept it. I currently only know that there are four ghosts, and Ghost Chief is the leader. Excluding Lincoln, one of the other two is a woman who is good at using her beauty to extract information; she can even find out your bank card PIN over the phone. The other one is a henchman, very skilled in combat, and should be male."

Thugs are different from assassins. Assassins kill for the purpose of killing, while thugs sometimes kill just as many people as assassins. This level shouldn't be described with such a low-level term as "thug." Zuo Luo could sense the dissatisfaction Su Cheng had with the ghost group in his words, confirming the claim that they had suffered a great loss. But conversely, if the ghost group was really as Su Cheng described, and Su Cheng managed to capture the outlines of the two ghosts and escape unscathed, it showed that Su Cheng was a very capable person.

Zuo Luo asked, "What's the problem?"

"You went to rescue Liu Mo as agreed, but you encountered an injured person on the way. You helped stop the bleeding and called for an ambulance, which delayed things and ultimately led to Liu Mo's death. It seems like that's the end of the matter, but the game isn't over. Because you saved someone, they're very unhappy about it. They enjoy trampling on people's dignity and honor, especially the police. Although your rescue resulted in Liu Mo's death, you upheld honor and dignity. Therefore, I think the Ghost Gang will remember you."

Zuo Luo said, "So, you mean I can fight them again?"

Su Cheng was stunned by these words: "Wow, wow." You actually expect to fight them?

Zuo Luo ignored him and drove off.

Sitting in the car with Zuo Luo was rather boring. Su Cheng initially tried to maintain his smile and gentlemanly demeanor, but after a while, he preferred to hum a tune and look at the scenery. Smiling is an important aspect of polite negotiation, but for Zuo Luo, smiling or not smiling seemed to make no difference whatsoever, so why make things difficult for himself? In any case, he and Zuo Luo currently shared one thing in common: they both wanted to get their revenge. Good thing; since the Ghost Group and Zuo Luo had ties, his role as advisor was worthwhile.

Su Cheng felt a surge of smug satisfaction. Although he had suffered a significant loss, the Ghost Gang hadn't found him. It wasn't a complete defeat. Su Cheng was quite interested, but the thought of that slum-like office dampened his enthusiasm. Look at Group One: white hats, technicians, meeting rooms, advanced technology… Then look at Group Seven's office—it looked like a police station from thirty years ago, relying solely on interviews and interrogations to solve cases.

Su Cheng looked at Zuo Luo, who didn't seem like a fool; he should be able to be helped up: "Zuo Luo, I drank half a bowl of porridge at seven in the morning, and then I haven't eaten anything since. You see..."

Aren't you hungry?

“I already ate while I was waiting for you,” Zuo Luo said. “I’ll just consider it as you wasting your meal time. Official business can’t be delayed; that’s my style.”

"Life is about enjoyment, that's my style," Su Cheng said. "I don't like going hungry."

Zuo Luo glanced at his watch, drove off without a word, and after a while, under Su Cheng's disapproving gaze, said, "This case is a murder case, which should have been handled by the criminal investigation team. However, we suspect it's a serial crime, so we've handed it over to Department Z."

"Department Z?"

"The first character of the pinyin for 'serious and major case'."

"..." Su Cheng didn't want to comment on this, he just wanted to find the person who came up with this name and kick them.

Zuo Luo said, "The main residents in the south of LH District are white-collar workers and moderately wealthy families. There are twelve residential areas in total, and the housing prices are relatively cheap. As a result, the residents of LH District are generally of higher quality and the crime rate is relatively low."

"Wait a minute, white-collar workers and middle-class families have relatively cheaper housing prices? What about blue-collar workers?"

Zuo Luo glanced at Su Cheng and replied, "Blue-collar workers can rent apartments. Don't interrupt me. In the past month, there have been multiple burglaries in Longhu Community and two nearby communities, all during the daytime, taking advantage of residents' working hours. These cases have been handled by the local criminal investigation team."

"The day before yesterday morning, a murder occurred in apartment 1202 of building 9 in Longhu Community. The female homeowner was fatally struck in the back of the head with a blunt instrument, and all valuables in her home were stolen. The criminal investigation team suspects it is a serial crime. They are worried that the first burglary might lead the perpetrator to commit a second murder, so they have requested assistance from department Z."

Su Cheng said, "I think the seventh group of the Z department is not as good as a single group of the criminal investigation team."

Zuo Luo was speechless for a long time after hearing this, but as if nothing had happened, he continued, "The criminal investigation team hopes to borrow specialized technical personnel from Department Z to collect evidence at the scene..."

"..." Su Cheng looked ahead and saw a fast food restaurant. He was so hungry.

Zuo Luo surprisingly continued, "Although they applied to Group One, Group One has a lot of cases on hand, so we just came to take a look for now. Here are the relevant case details; I got a rough idea while waiting for you to have lunch." As he spoke, he handed his phone to Su Cheng.

Su Cheng took the phone, opened his email inbox, and found several documents and photos inside.

About ten minutes later, Su Cheng read aloud: "At nine o'clock in the morning, the husband went to the market to buy groceries, and the wife saw him off at the elevator, reminding him of what to buy. The neighbor across the hall happened to be putting out the trash at their door, greeted the couple, and chatted with the wife for about five minutes after the husband left. At 9:20, the neighbor, having finished exercising, went out to water the flowers on the balcony in the hallway, and saw the across the hall door open. Upon closer inspection, they discovered the wife's body in the living room. The neighbor was horrified and called the police. The police arrived in about five minutes, and the husband arrived home ten minutes later. The autopsy report stated that the wife died between 9:00 and 9:15."

Su Cheng: "All the times are perfectly accurate because my neighbor starts exercising with a TV program every morning at nine o'clock. He's a few minutes late because he's chatting. The TV program ends at 9:20. The property management company in this community was recently fired, so there are no security cameras or surveillance. It's a community that serial thieves love to frequent."

Zuo Luo asked, "Has anyone seen my husband at the market?"

"Yes, the criminal police suspect the husband of murder as usual, but a vendor at the market can confirm that the husband came to sell fish and meat around nine o'clock in the morning. However, the exact time is uncertain, only that it was around nine o'clock. Combined with the neighbors' testimonies, the husband should be cleared of suspicion."